Thursday, January 07, 2010

His work questions the legitimacy of ‘normative’ values and systems of authority, and attacks the sanctity of cultural attitudes toward family, religion, sexuality, art history, and education. Mike Kelley on PBS

I found this installation to resemble a pile of rag dolls disturbing. The work was dismantled soon after it was photographed.Never you mind....

MK: From the response I was getting to my works with stuffed animals and craft materials-people went on about how the work was about child abuse. What was my problem? Why was I playing with these toys? Had I been abused? Was I a pedophile? I didn’t understand what they were talking about. But when I did a bit of research, I discovered how culturally omnipresent this infatuation with child abuse was..... - Interview

Richard Bolai lives and works from Trinidad, West Indies. He is a bookbinder,Graphic designer and the author of thebookmann, which from 2004, has written and photographed independently aspects of Trinidad and Tobago's art culture.

In 2008, he began a series of self studies called Feinin which incorporated digital superpositions of artists who have left a mark in art history by using the internet as the core of reference. He also produced parodies relating to anthropological studies of Trinidad and Tobago, for example, folklore or observations of the society via class and stereotypes

The work then expanded by actually creating dimensional replicas, capturing a map over the subjects to explore the underling subconscious in the form of art. This aided the ability to analyze art by producing art parodies to understand the meaning behind it. No money was spent or assistance in producing these compositions from common items found in his home, a chair, a mirror, or old tyre.